Many research and manufacturing facilities have equipment and materials that can pose a hazard to personnel during an emergency. For example, equipment can malfunction and catch on fire, and emit smoke or other dangerous gases or have other effects that can be hazardous to personnel using the manufacturing facility. Materials may be hazardous if exposed to personnel, or may be hazardous if improperly handled, for example, by mixing one harmless material with another harmless material that can produce a harmful compound.
When a hazardous condition exists in a facility, it may be desirable to direct personnel to a destination such as a nearest exit, a meeting area, or a supply of equipment that can protect personnel, address the hazard, or both. Different personnel may require different destinations when dealing with the hazard. For example, if a fire breaks out, some personnel may wish to locate the nearest exit that is safely accessible, while other personnel may wish to know where protective clothing and firefighting equipment may be located.
There have been proposed certain evacuation systems that can assist personnel in safely evacuating an area containing, or potentially containing, hazards. For example, the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,301, entitled, “Guidance Method and Apparatus in Case of Emergency Evacuation” addresses shining a laser light towards an emergency exit if a hazardous condition is detected to allow personnel to quickly locate an exit. However, such a system can actually be harmful if the emergency condition is near the emergency exit. For example, if the hazardous condition is a pending explosion that will occur near an emergency exit or a fire occurring immediately outside the exit, pointing to the exit may not be a benefit to the personnel. Even if the hazardous condition is nowhere near the emergency exit, if a hazard exists between the person and an exit, merely directing the person towards that exit can be harmful to that person because it directs him or her right into the hazard on the way to the exit. For example, a release of a cloud of odorless, colorless, poisonous gas halfway between an individual and an emergency exit is not best handled by pointing to that exit with a laser light. Furthermore, the aforementioned patent cannot respond to other information such as a suspected pattern of movement, such as the drift of a gas given the airflow patterns in a facility. Additionally, the patent addresses all hazards in exactly the same way: sending everyone to the exit, which does not assist those persons who may be able to address the hazardous condition or otherwise require a different destination.
Another system is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,499, entitled, “Emergency Guidance System”, which addresses lamps embedded at the edges of an aisle in an airplane. Sensors near exit locations determine whether the exit location is safe to use and a chasing lamp pattern directs the passengers to the nearest safe exit, with detectors mounted at the exists determining which exits are safe. However, like the laser beam system above, the system does not address hazards to a user between a passenger and the exit, or suspected changes to the hazard. Furthermore, the system is expensive to install in a research, manufacturing or other facility where there are a multitude of paths one can take to reach an exit because each path must be marked. Furthermore, the user of such a system must watch the lamps constantly, because the user has no idea where the lamps will lead him or her. While this system can operate where there are few alternative paths, the paths are predictable and the paths do not cover significant distances such as in an airplane, in a research, manufacturing or other facility, if there are a multitude of alternate paths to a safe exit, and if those paths can be more than a short distance, such a system can slow the user's escape so much that it could be more dangerous to follow its direction than not to follow it. Furthermore, the system can force the user to watch the lamps so carefully, that the user would not notice subsequent hazards, like other users running into the same aisle.
It can also be desirable to predict hazardous conditions that may not be detected and to direct personnel to locations that avoid the predicted hazardous condition. For example, if smoke is detected, it can be desirable to direct personnel to exits upwind of the smoke, avoiding exits in the path of the smoke, to ensure that they are not directed into hazards not detected. None of the aforementioned patents takes into account the prediction of hazardous conditions that are not detected or directing personnel to locations that avoid the predicted hazardous conditions.
It can further be desirable to allow personnel to communicate with others such as rescue personnel so that they may request assistance or report circumstances which may not be known. None of the patents described above provides any capacity for such communication.
It can also be desirable to allow rescue personnel or others to track personnel who may be in a facility in which a hazardous condition has been detected. It can be especially helpful to inform personnel such as rescue personnel of the existence of other personnel who are stranded in a facility in which a hazardous condition exists with no means of escape that avoids all hazardous conditions. Such information can be used to allow rescue personnel to provide a means for escape for such stranded personnel. For example, if a fire is blocking the exit of a group of people with all other groups of people having a safe exit from the building, firefighters can focus their firefighting or rescue efforts on allowing the stranded group to escape.
During the occurrence of a hazardous condition, it may be desirable to optionally have access to information about the area in which the hazardous condition exists. Such information may include information about which chemicals in solid, liquid or gaseous form are in use at different areas around the area, the work in process in the area, permit information and other information to allow decisions to be made about how to respond to the hazardous condition. Such information can be used to determine not only how to escape, but also how to minimize damage from the emergency.
What is needed is a system and method that can direct a user to a destination using a safe path when a hazard exists in a facility, without requiring the user to stare at a sequence of chasing lamps to locate the safe exit, that can predict undetected hazardous conditions and direct users to the destination that avoids the predicted hazardous condition, that can allow personnel to communicate, that can track personnel and identify personnel stranded due to one or more hazardous conditions, and that can provide access to other information about the area near the one or more hazards.